Recommendation system and recommendation method

ABSTRACT

A recommendation system includes: a display control unit configured to use a rank of a selection evaluation element selected from each of the plurality of evaluation elements, thereby allowing a display device to display a rank distance screen in which a user icon indicating the user and a first proposal activity icon indicating the proposal activity are arranged such that a distance between the user icon and the first proposal activity icon becomes shorter as the rank of the selection evaluation element assigned to the proposal activity becomes higher, the display device being used by the user.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 toJapanese Patent Application No. 2020-064600 filed on Mar. 31, 2020. Thecontent of the application is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a recommendation system and arecommendation method.

Description of the Related Art

In the related arts, a travel package reservation support device hasbeen proposed in which a travel package is selected from travel packageswhose tourist destinations and dates are predetermined according toreservation application information including a departure date inputfrom an information terminal and an itinerary incorporating asightseeing option specified in the reservation application informationis displayed in a provisional itinerary based on the selected travelpackage (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2016-18519, for example).

In the travel package reservation support device, a case where a userdecides a travel itinerary and a sightseeing option is the same in termsof a procedure a case where a user decides an itinerary by looking at atravel pamphlet. Therefore, it is assumed that user does not feelfreshness and is uninterested and the user does not feel the need toactively utilize the device for the purpose of examining an activitysuch as travel.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances,and is to provide a recommendation system and a recommendation methodthat can be expected to be actively utilized by users who examine anactivity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to achieve the above-described object, a first aspect of thepresent invention is to provide a recommendation system including: auser characteristic information acquisition unit configured to acquirecharacteristic information of a user; a user characteristic recognitionunit configured to recognize a characteristic of the user, based on thecharacteristic information of the user acquired by the usercharacteristic information acquisition unit; a proposal activityinformation acquisition unit configured to access an activity databasein which activity information is stored, to extract a proposal activitysuitable for the characteristic of the user recognized by the usercharacteristic recognition unit, and to acquire information of theproposal activity; a rank assignment unit configured to assign a rankfor each of a plurality of different evaluation elements to the proposalactivity; and a display control unit configured to use a rank of aselection evaluation element selected from each of the plurality ofevaluation elements, thereby allowing a display device to display a rankdistance screen in which a user icon indicating the user and a firstproposal activity icon indicating the proposal activity are arrangedsuch that a distance between the user icon and the first proposalactivity icon becomes shorter as the rank of the selection evaluationelement assigned to the proposal activity becomes higher, the displaydevice being used by the user.

In the recommendation system, the recommendation system may furtherinclude an evaluation element selection reception unit configured toreceive a selection of the evaluation element by the user, and thedisplay control unit may allow the display device to display the rankdistance screen using the evaluation element whose selection is receivedby the evaluation element selection reception unit as the selectionevaluation element.

In the recommendation system, the recommendation system may furtherinclude a displacement recognition unit configured to recognize adisplacement of an input device that is gripped and used by the user,and the evaluation element selection reception unit may receive, basedon the displacement of the input device recognized by the displacementrecognition unit, the selection of the evaluation element.

In the recommendation system, the evaluation element may include atleast one of a distance from a current position of the user to a placewhere an activity can be experienced, an estimated time required to movefrom the current position of the user to the place where the activitycan be experienced, a time required for the activity, a skill requiredfor the activity, and a tool required for the activity.

In the recommendation system, the display device may include a touchpanel, the display control unit may allow the touch panel to display anactivity proposal screen that display an activity information displayarea in which the information of the proposal activity is displayed andan evaluation input area to which an evaluation of the user for theproposal activity is input in a touching manner, and the recommendationsystem may include a user evaluation reception unit configured torecognize a rank of the evaluation of the user for the proposal activitywhich is input to the evaluation input area in the touching manner.

In the recommendation system, the display control unit may allow thetouch panel to display the activity proposal screen that displays theevaluation input area including a plurality of sub-areas havingdifferent colors or shades and a second proposal activity iconcorresponding to the proposal activity, and the user evaluationreception unit may recognize the rank of the evaluation of the user forthe proposal activity according to the sub-area to which the secondproposal activity icon is moved when an operation of moving the secondactivity icon to the evaluation input area is performed on the touchpanel on which the activity proposal screen being displayed.

In the recommendation system, the recommendation system may furtherinclude an activity demand estimation unit configured to estimate ademand for the proposal activity, based on the rank of the evaluation ofthe user for the proposal activity recognized by the user evaluationreception unit.

In the recommendation system, the display control unit may allow thedisplay device to display an activity list screen on which a list of aplurality of third proposal activity icons individually associated withthe plurality of proposal activities are displayed with respect to theplurality of proposal activities, which are extracted by the proposalactivity information acquisition unit and are selected by the user, inan arrangement mode according to a predetermined condition.

In the recommendation system, a display mode of each of the thirdproposal activity icons may differ depending on a genre orcharacteristic of each of the associated proposal activities.

In the recommendation system, the recommendation system may furtherinclude a displacement recognition unit configured to recognize adisplacement of an input device that is gripped and used by the user,and the display control unit may change the arrangement of the pluralityof third proposal activity icons on the activity list screen, based onthe displacement of the input device recognized by the displacementrecognition unit.

In the recommendation system, the display control unit may be configuredto: divide the plurality of third proposal activity icons into anexecution activity icon corresponding to the proposal activity for whichexecution intention of the user is set and an activity icon underconsideration for which execution intention of the user is not set; andallow the display device to display the activity list screen in whichthe execution activity icon is arranged in an execution area and theactivity icon under consideration is arranged in an area underconsideration that does not overlap with the execution area.

In the recommendation system, the execution area may be arranged on anupper side of the area under consideration in the activity list screen.

In the recommendation system, the recommendation system may furtherinclude an activity planning unit configured to create a plan forexperiencing the proposal activity for which the execution intention ofthe user is set, and the display control unit may allow the displaydevice to display a planning screen for displaying the plan created bythe activity planning unit.

In order to achieve the above-described object, a second aspect of thepresent invention is to provide a recommendation method executed by acomputer, the method including: a user characteristic informationacquisition step of acquiring characteristic information of a user; auser characteristic recognition step of recognizing a characteristic ofthe user, based on the characteristic information of the user acquiredin the user characteristic information acquisition step; a proposalactivity information acquisition step of accessing an activity databasein which activity information is stored, extracting a proposal activitysuitable for the characteristic of the user recognized in the usercharacteristic recognition step, and acquiring information of theproposal activity; a rank assignment step of assigning a rank for eachof a plurality of different evaluation elements to the proposalactivity; and a display control step of using a rank of a selectionevaluation element selected from each of the plurality of evaluationelements, thereby allowing a display device to display a rank distancescreen in which a user icon indicating the user and a first proposalactivity icon indicating the proposal activity are arranged such that adistance between the user icon and the first proposal activity iconbecomes shorter as the rank of the selection evaluation element assignedto the proposal activity becomes higher, the display device being usedby the user.

According to the recommendation system, the user can confirm the rankdistance screen, in which the distance between the icon indicating theproposal activity and the user icon is set, according to the ranks ofdifferent evaluation elements. Thus, the user can actively utilize therecommendation system and select an activity that matches his/her wishesfrom different viewpoints.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an activity proposal by arecommendation system and utilization of the recommendation system by auser;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a rank distance screen;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a throwing screen of a user icon;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an activity proposal screen;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an activity list screen;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of arecommendation system;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of display processing of a rank distance screen;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of evaluation elements set for anactivity;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of extraction processing of a proposal activity;

FIG. 10 is a first flowchart of the extraction processing of theproposal activity based on a preference;

FIG. 11 is a second flowchart of the extraction processing of theproposal activity based on the preference;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a plurality of types of preferencecategories set for a user; and

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of prior probabilities and conditionalprobabilities set for activities.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 1-0. Proposal ofActivity with Recommendation System

With reference to FIG. 1, a proposal of an activity executed by arecommendation system 1 of the present embodiment to a user U and anaspect of utilization of the recommendation system 1 by the user U willbe described. FIG. 1 shows a process in which the user U utilizesinformation on the activity proposed from the recommendation system 1 toexperience the activity in five stages from a first stage to a fifthstage in a time series.

The recommendation system 1 is a computer system including a CPU(Central Processing Unit) 10, a memory 30, and a communication unit 40as shown in FIG. 6, but details thereof will be described below. Therecommendation system 1 communicates with, via a communication network900, a user terminal 50, an activity information server 200, a userinformation server 210, a schedule server 300, a traffic informationserver 310, and a weather information server 320 to be used by the user.

The user terminal 50 is a portable communication terminal that isgripped and used by the user U, and communicates with the recommendationsystem 1 via the communication network 900. The user terminal 50 is asmartphone, a mobile phone, or a tablet terminal, for example. As shownin FIG. 6, the user terminal 50 includes a touch panel 51, a motionsensor 52, an orientation sensor 53, a GPS (Global Positioning System)sensor 54, a speaker 55, a microphone 56, a communication unit 57, and aterminal control unit 58.

The motion sensor 52 detects acceleration in three directions of afront-back direction, a left-right direction, and an up-down directiongenerated in the user terminal 50. The orientation sensor 53 detects anorientation in which the user terminal 50 is directed. The GPS sensor 54detects a current position of the user terminal 50. The communicationunit 57 communicates with the recommendation system 1 via thecommunication network 900. The terminal control unit 58 is configured bya CPU and a memory which are not shown, and executes variousapplications (application programs) stored in the memory.

The user U downloads an application (application program) of an activityproposal service provided from the recommendation system 1 to the userterminal 50. Then, the user U executes the application of the activityproposal service on the user terminal 50 to use the activity proposalservice with the recommendation system 1. At the time of starting to usethe activity proposal service, the user U applies for personalinformation to the recommendation system 1 and registers as a member.The personal information includes a gender, age, place of residence,occupation, and preference of the user U.

The activity information server 200 includes an activity DB (Data base)201 in which information on various activities is stored. The activityinformation includes a genre of the activity, a content of the activity,an address of a facility where the activity can be experienced, adistance to the facility, an access method to the facility, a timerequired for the activity experience, a skill required for the activityexperience, an assumption amount of the activity, and a cost of theactivity. Further, the activity information is ranked for each ofdifferent evaluation elements as shown in FIG. 8. In the example of FIG.8, the evaluation elements include a time required for the activity, amoving distance to the facility where the activity can be experienced,an amount of the activity, a difficulty level of the activity, a periodof time suitable for the activity, and a preference suitable for theactivity.

The user information server 210 includes a user DB 211 in whichinformation of each user who has registered as a member is stored. Theuser information includes a personal file, a wish list, and a done list,for example.

The personal file is recorded with user's personal information, forexample, a user ID, a gender, an age, a place of residence, anoccupation, a preference, and a skill related to the experience of theactivity. The wish list is recorded with a selection activity which isan activity selected by the user (a user's evaluation being at apredetermined level or higher) among activities proposed to the userfrom the recommendation system 1 until now.

In addition, the wish list is recorded with a user's evaluation of theselection activity. Further, the selection activity recorded in the wishlist is divided into a Do that the user decides to experience by aselection operation of the user and a Wish that is under consideration.

In the Done list, the activity that the user has experienced so far areregistered with information on a date and time of the experience and auser's evaluation.

[1-1. First Stage]

In a first stage, when the user U activates the application of theactivity proposal service on the user terminal 50, data Lds of a rankdistance screen is transmitted from the recommendation system 1 to theuser terminal 50. Then, a rank distance screen 100 is displayed on thetouch panel 51 in the user terminal 50 as shown in FIG. 2.

On the rank distance screen 100, a user icon 110 indicating the user Uis located substantially at a center of the screen. Then, activity icons111 to 117 are located that are closer to the user icon 110 as the rankof the evaluation element becomes higher, the activity icons indicatingactivities extracted from the selected activities recorded in the wishlist based on any of the evaluation elements (see FIG. 8) selected bythe user U.

For example, when the selected evaluation element is “required time”, asthe required time becomes shorter, the rank of the activity becomeshigher and a distance between the corresponding activity icon and theuser icon 110 becomes shorter. In the example of FIG. 2, the user U canintuitively recognize, for example, that the time required for theactivity corresponding to the activity icon 115 is shorter than theactivity corresponding to the activity icon 111. Therefore, the user Ucan easily recognize the activity that can be experienced in a shorttime.

A display correspondence of each of the activity icons 111 to 117 may bechanged according to a genre of the corresponding activity, an areawhere the activity can be experienced, a provider of the activity, and aprospective participant in the activity. In FIG. 2, the activity icons116 and 112 have the same face character and indicate activity iconscorresponding to the same provider or prospective participant. Inaddition, the activity icon 117 is displayed with high lighting (forexample, flushing) and indicates that another user has decided toexperience the activity or that another user is experiencing theactivity.

In addition, the activity icon 114 is gradually approaching the usericon 110, and indicates that a recommendation level of the correspondingactivity is rapidly increasing. For example, activities that haverecently been added to the wish list and activities that are suitablefor changes in the current state of the user are extracted as activitieswhose recommendation level is rapidly increasing.

An arm 102 extends from the user icon 110 to the activity icon 116,which indicates that the user U proposes to participate in the activitytogether for the prospective participant in the activity correspondingto the activity icon 116 (inviting state). Further, an arm 101 extendsfrom the activity icon 112 to the user icon 110, which indicates thatthe prospective participant corresponding to the activity icon 112proposes to participate in the activity together for the user U (invitedstate).

The user U can arrange to experience the activity together with otherprospective participants by touching the activity icon 112 andperforming a predetermined accompanying permission operation. Further,when the prospective participant corresponding to the activity icon 116approves the invitation from the user U, the shape of the arm 102changes to a shape in which both ends are hands. Thus, the user U canrecognize that the invitation that the user U proposed has been acceptedand can arrange to experience the activity together with otherprospective participants.

By touching the user icon 110, The user U can sequentially switch theevaluation elements and see the rank distance screen with otherevaluation elements. Thus, the user U can intuitively recognize thedegree of difference between activities due to the difference in adistance on the rank distance screen from different viewpoints of anexperience time, a required time, and a required skill and can examinethe activity to be experienced.

Next, the user U swings the hand with which the user terminal 50 isgripped when requesting the recommendation system 1 to propose a newactivity. Thus, motion detection data Msd detected by the motion sensor52 is transmitted from the user terminal 50 to the recommendation system1.

In addition, the user U can request the recommendation system 1 topropose a new activity by an operation of swiping the user icon 110 asshown in FIG. 3 in addition to the operation of displacing the userterminal 50. As shown in FIG. 3, the user U moves the finger F from thescreen by a swipe operation of touching the user icon 110 with thefinger F to move the user icon 110 to a lower part of the screen andthen sliding the finger F touching the user icon 110 to an upper part ofthe screen. Thus, the motion detection data Msd indicating the movingdistance and the moving speed of the user icon 110 is transmitted fromthe user terminal 50 to the recommendation system 1.

[1-2. Second Stage]

In a second stage, the recommendation system 1 recognizes a size and aspeed of a swing by the user U based on the motion detection data Msd,and estimates a mood of the user U. Then, the recommendation system 1accesses the activity DB 201, extracts a proposal activity suitable forthe mood of the user U, and transmits data Ars of an activity proposalscreen displaying information of the proposal activity to the userterminal 50.

On the user terminal 50, as shown in FIG. 4, an activity proposal screen130 is displayed on the touch panel 51. The activity proposal screen 130displays a proposal activity image display portion 131 that displays animage of the proposal activity extracted by the recommendation system 1,a proposal activity icon 132, and an evaluation slider 140 used to inputan evaluation of the user U for the proposal activity.

FIG. 4 shows a case where a pottery experience is extracted as aproposal activity. The user U touches a detail button 133 of theproposal activity image display portion 131 and can display moredetailed information of the proposal activity on the touch panel 51. Theevaluation slider 140 includes five sub-areas 141 to 145 havingdifferent colors and shades and a pointer 135, and the proposal activityicon 132 is displayed in the vicinity of the pointer 135.

The user U evaluates the proposal activity in five stages by touchingthe pointer 135 with a finger F and sliding the pointer 135 up and downto move it to any of the sub-areas 141 to 145. When the range of thesub-area 141 is the lowest rank (rank 1), and the range of the sub-area145 is the highest rank (rank 5). The pointer 135 causes the userterminal 50 to transmit evaluation data Evd indicating the rank of theevaluation by the user U to the recommendation system 1.

The recommendation system 1 adds the proposal activity as a selectionactivity to the wish list. When the evaluation data Evd received fromthe user terminal 50 is at a predetermined level or higher (for example,rank 4 or higher), the proposal activity may be added to the wish listas a selection activity. When the position of the pointer 135 is aposition corresponding to the predetermined level or higher, a mark 136indicating that the selection is being made at a corner of the icon 132is displayed.

[1-3. Third Stage]

In a third stage, the user terminal 50 receives data Lis of an activitylist screen transmitted from the recommendation system 1, and displaysthe activity list screen on the touch panel 51. As shown in FIG. 5, theactivity list screen 150 displays, in an upper area 160 of the touchpanel 51, activity icons of activities divided in Do (executionintention of the user U being shown) among the activities registered inthe wish list in a list form in an arrangement mode according to apredetermined condition.

Further, the activity list screen 150 displays, in a lower area 170 ofthe touch panel 51, activity icons of activities divided in Wish(execution intension of the user being not shown). An activity icon 174corresponding to the activity newly selected by the user U is arrangedat a right end of the bottom, and other activity icons sequentially moveup from right to left and from bottom to top. The user U can touch eachof the activity icons with the finger F to display detailed informationof the corresponding activity.

When deciding the activity to be experienced, the user U slides theactivity icon corresponding to the decided activity from the wish area170 to do area 160. FIG. 5 shows an example in which the activity icon172 slides from the wish area 170 to the do area 160. In this case, theuser extracts an activity whose experience place is close to theactivity corresponding to the activity icon 172 from the activitieswhose activity icons are displayed in the do area, and may move theactivity icon of the extracted activity around the activity icon 172.

The user U can combine a plurality of corresponding activities into onegroup by continuously touching a plurality of activity icons displayedin the do area 160. FIG. 5 shows an example in which the activity icons161 to 164 are continuously touched to combine into one group 165.

[1-4. Fourth Stage]

In a fourth stage, the user U operates the user terminal 50 andtransmits planning request information PLr for requesting planning ofthe activities combined into one group on the activity list screen tothe recommendation system 1. The recommendation system 1, which hasreceived the planning request information PLr, creates an experienceplan to efficiently go around the plurality of activities required forthe group. Then, the recommendation system 1 transmits data PLs of theplanning screen, which guides the created experience plan, to the userterminal 50.

The user terminal 50, which has received the data PLs of the planningscreen, displays the planning screen on the touch panel 51, and the userU can create an itinerary for efficiently experiencing a plurality ofactivities with reference to the planning screen.

[1-5. Fifth Stage]

In a fifth stage, the user U sequentially visits the activity experienceplaces and experiences the activity according to the itinerary createdin the fourth stage. The user U who has experienced the activitytransmits Done information Dni indicating activity evaluations(including a level of satisfaction, an experience time, and a movingtime) to the recommendation system 1.

The recommendation system 1, which has received the Done informationDni, registers the activity experienced by the user U in a Done list ofthe user U of the user DB 211, and updates the preference of thepersonal file of the user U based on the evaluation of the user U.Further, the recommendation system 1 updates, based on the evaluation ofthe user U, the information of the activity DB 201 regarding theactivity experienced by the user.

The processing of the recommendation system 1 in the first to fifthstages described above can provide a total support from the proposal tothe execution of the activity to the user U, which can promote theutilization of the recommendation system 1 by the user U.

2. Configuration of Recommendation System

A configuration of the recommendation system 1 will be described withreference to FIG. 6. The recommendation system 1 includes a CPU 10(corresponding to a computer), a memory 30, and a communication unit 40,and the communication unit 40 communicates with the user terminal 50 viathe communication network 900.

The CPU 10 reads and executes the control program of the recommendationsystem 1 stored in the memory 30, thereby functioning as a usercharacteristic information acquisition unit 11, a user characteristicrecognition unit 12, an input operation mode recognition unit 13, a usermood estimation unit 14, an estimation accuracy calculation unit 15, anorientation recognition unit 16, a proposal activity informationacquisition unit 17, an output control unit 18, user evaluationreception unit 19, a rank assignment unit 20, evaluation elementselection reception unit 21, an acquisition time situation informationstorage unit 22, an individual preference category setting unit 23, aclustering unit 24, a current situation recognition unit 25, a weightingsetting unit 26, an activity planning unit 27, and an activity demandestimation unit 28.

The user characteristic information acquisition unit 11 accesses theuser DB 211 (see FIG. 1), and acquires characteristic information(information on a gender, an age, a place of residence, and apreference) of the user U recorded in the personal file. The usercharacteristic information acquisition unit 11 includes a function of auser preference information acquisition unit that acquires informationon the preference of the user U. The user characteristic recognitionunit 12 recognizes characteristics of the user U based on thecharacteristic information of the user U.

The input operation mode recognition unit 13 recognizes, as a mode ofthe input operation of the user terminal 50 by the user U, a mode of theswing operation or the slide operation of the user icon of the userterminal 50 described above. The input operation mode recognition unit13 includes a function of a displacement recognition unit thatrecognizes a displacement of the user terminal 50 due to the swing.

The user mood estimation unit 14 estimates a mood of the user U based onthe mode of the input operation recognized by the input operation moderecognition unit 13. For example, the user mood estimation unit 14estimates the mood of the user U as follows according to the input moderecognized by the input operation mode recognition unit 13. The usermood estimation unit 14 estimates positiveness of the user U in fivestages.

The greater the displacement of the swing of the user terminal 50, thehigher the positiveness of the user U.

The faster the swing speed of the user terminal 50, the higher thepositiveness of the user U.

The higher the swing acceleration of the user terminal 50, the higherthe positiveness of the user U.

The greater the swipe magnitude of the user icon 110, the higher thepositiveness of the user U.

The faster the swipe speed of the user icon 110, the higher thepositiveness of the user U.

The higher the swipe acceleration of the user icon 110, the higher thepositiveness of the user U.

The estimation accuracy calculation unit 15 calculates estimationaccuracy of the mood of the user U estimated by the user mood estimationunit 14. The estimation accuracy calculation unit 15 calculates, asestimation accuracy, a ratio of the activity selected by the user U(being moved from the Wish to Do) from the proposal activities extractedaccording to the mood of the user U.

The orientation recognition unit 16 recognizes an orientation, in whichthe user U is directed, based on orientation detection data that isdetected by the orientation sensor 53 of the user terminal 50 and istransmitted from the user terminal 50 to the recommendation system 1.The orientation, in which the user terminal 50 is directed, may berecognized based on orientation detection data that is detected by adevice (a wristwatch) other than the user terminal 50 possessed by theuser U.

The proposal activity information acquisition unit 17 accesses theactivity DB 201, extracts an activity suitable for the user U as aproposal activity, and acquires information on the proposal activity.The output control unit 18 transmits the information on the proposalactivity to the user terminal 50, and allows the touch panel 51 todisplay the information. The output control unit 18 includes a functionof a display control unit that controls the display of the user terminal50.

The user evaluation reception unit 19 receives the selection operationof the user U for the proposal activity. The user evaluation receptionunit 19 includes a function of an activity selection reception unit thatreceives an activity selection by the user U. The rank assignment unit20 ranks each of the evaluation elements shown in FIG. 8 for theproposal activity. The evaluation element selection reception unit 21receives the user's selection operation of the evaluation element at thetime of display of the rank distance screen described above. Theacquisition time situation information storage unit 22 stores situationinformation at the time when the proposal activity informationacquisition unit 17 acquires the information on the proposal activity,in the activity DB 201.

The individual preference category setting unit 23 sets a preference ofthe user U to be assumed to have, based on the preference informationreported by the user U at the time of registration in the recommendationsystem 1 and the selection result of the user U for the proposalactivity so far. The individual preference category setting unit 23 setsa preference category that is assumed to correspond to the user U amongthe five types of preference categories A to E for the user U as shownin FIG. 12. In the example of FIG. 12, for example, preference categoryA and preference category B are set as preference categoriescorresponding to the user U whose user ID is U01.

The clustering unit 24 performs clustering in which users set with theoverlapping preference categories are made to belong to the same class.In the example of FIG. 12, users U having user IDs U01 to U04 set with acommon preference category A are clustered by the preference category A.

The current situation recognition unit 25 recognizes, as a currentsituation, a user-specific situation related to the user U and a generalsituation other than the user-specific situation. The user-specificsituation includes a current position of the user U, a point in whichthe user U is interested, a working day of the user, and a holidaysituation of the user. The current situation recognition unit 25recognizes the current position of the user U by receiving the positiondetection data that is detected by the GPS sensor 54 of the userterminal 50 and is transmitted from the user terminal 50 to therecommendation system 1. In addition, the current situation recognitionunit 25 accesses the schedule server 300 and recognizes the schedule ofthe user U, thereby recognizing the point at which the user U isinterested, the working day of the user, and the holiday of the user.

Further, the current situation recognition unit 25 recognizes, asgeneral situations, a season, a weather, a current point of time, and atraffic situation. The current situation recognition unit 25 accessesthe weather information server 320 to recognize a current situation ofthe weather, and accesses to the traffic information server 310 torecognize the traffic situation. The weighting setting unit 26 setsweighting for a proposal activity candidate to be used when the proposalactivity information acquisition unit 17 extracts the proposal activity.

The activity planning unit 27 creates a plan for an activity experiencedescribed in the fourth stage in FIG. 1. More specifically, the activityplanning unit 27 accesses the traffic information server 310 torecognize an access method, a distance, and a required time from thecurrent position of the user terminal 50 to the area or the facilitywhere the activity is experienced, and creates a plan. Then, theactivity planning unit 27 transmits the data PLs of the planning screendisplaying the plan contents to the user terminal 50.

The activity demand estimation unit 28 estimates the demand of theproposal activity based on the rank of the evaluation of the proposalactivity by the user U received by the user evaluation reception unit19. In addition, the demand of the proposal activity may be estimatedbased on the number of activities divided in the Do. The estimationresult of the demand of the proposal activity is utilized for extractionof the proposal activity in the future.

3. Display Processing of Rank Distance Screen

Display processing of the rank distance screen will be described withreference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 7. In step S1 of FIG. 7, theoutput control unit 18 sets the “required time” of six evaluationelements shown in FIG. 8 as a selection evaluation element of an initialsetting.

Subsequently, in step S2, the output control unit 18 extracts apredetermined number of proposal activities in order of the highest rankof the selection evaluation element for the proposal activitiesregistered in the wish list. When the selection evaluation element is a“required time”, the shorter the required time, the higher the rank, sothe proposal activity is extracted in order of the shortest requiredtime.

Subsequently, in step S3, the output control unit 18 transmits data ofthe rank distance screen 100, in which the distances of the activityicons 111 to 117 of the respective extracted proposal activities areshortened from the user icon 110 as the rank of the selection evaluationelement increases as shown in FIG. 2, to the user terminal 50. Thus, therank distance screen 100 is displayed on the touch panel 51 of the userterminal 50.

Subsequently, in step S4, when receiving the information on a switchinginstruction of the evaluation element from the user terminal 50, theoutput control unit 18 proceeds the process to step S5 to set a nextevaluation element as a selection evaluation element, and proceeds theprocess to step S2. Thus, the rank distance screen 100 displayed on thetouch panel 51 of the user terminal 50 is switched to a screencorresponding to the rank according to different evaluation criteria. Inthis way, the user U can switch the evaluation criteria in the order ofrequired time→moving distance→activity amount→difficulty level→period oftime→preference→required time→ . . . , confirm the rank distance screen100 according to each of the evaluation criteria, and examine theactivity to be experienced.

4. Display Processing of Activity Proposal Screen

Display processing of the activity proposal screen will be describedwith reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 9. In step S10 of FIG. 9,the input operation mode recognition unit 13 proceeds the process tostep S11 when receiving the motion detection data Msd (see FIG. 1) fromthe user terminal 50. In step S11, the input operation mode recognitionunit 13 recognizes the mode of the input operation by the user U, basedon the motion detection data Msd.

Subsequently, in step S12, the estimation accuracy calculation unit 15determines whether the estimation accuracy of the mood of the user U sofar is equal to or higher than an accuracy determination level. Here,the estimation accuracy calculation unit 15 calculates, as estimationaccuracy of the mood, a ratio of the number of activities selected bythe user U to the total number of activities proposed to the user U sofar. The estimation accuracy calculation unit 15 proceeds the process tostep S13 when the estimation accuracy of the mood of the user U is atthe accuracy determination level, and proceeds the process to step S20when the estimation accuracy of the mood of the user U is equal to orlower than the accuracy determination level. In step S20, extractionprocessing of the proposal activity based on the preference of the user,which will be described below, is executed.

In step S13, the user mood estimation unit 14 estimates the mood of theuser U based on the mode of the input operation of the user U recognizedby the input operation mode recognition unit 13. Here, the mood of theuser U is estimated in five stages of positiveness as described above.Subsequently, in step S14, the orientation recognition unit 16recognizes, based on the orientation data transmitted from the userterminal 50, the orientation in which the user terminal 50 is directed.Subsequently, in step S15, the proposal activity information acquisitionunit 17 refers to the activity DB 201, and extracts the activity as aproposal activity that is suitable for the mood of the user U and can beexperienced in the area of the orientation in which the user terminal 50is directed, based on the mood (high or low of positiveness) of the userU estimated by the user mood estimation unit 14 and the orientation.

Subsequently, in step S16, the output control unit 18 transmits, to theuser terminal 50, the proposal activity image display portion 131 fordisplaying the image of the proposal activity and the data of theactivity proposal screen 130 for displaying the evaluation slider 140,as shown in FIG. 4. Thus, the activity proposal screen 130 is displayedon the touch panel 51 of the user terminal 50. The user U examines thecontent of the proposal activity, and evaluates the proposal activity bythe operating the touch input of the evaluation slider 140.

Subsequently, in step S17, the user evaluation reception unit 19proceeds the process to step S17 when receiving the evaluation data ofthe proposal activity transmitted from the user terminal 50. In stepS17, the user evaluation reception unit 19 proceeds the process to stepS21 and registers the proposal activity in the wish list when theevaluation level of the proposal activity by the user U recognized fromthe evaluation data is equal to or higher than a wish threshold value.In this case, the user U has selected the proposal activity as acandidate for the activity to be experienced.

On the other hand, when the evaluation level of the proposal activity islower than the wish threshold value, the user evaluation reception unit19 proceeds the process to step S19. In this case, the user U has notselected the proposal activity, and the proposal activity is notregistered in the wish list.

5. Extraction Processing of Proposal Activity Based on Preference ofUser

Extraction processing of the proposal activity based on the preferenceof the user will be described with reference to flowcharts shown inFIGS. 10 and 11. Here, as shown in FIG. 12, a case will be described inwhich the proposal activity is extracted from four activities B1 to B4in which prior probabilities and conditional probabilities are set forfour users for which the suitability of the five types of preferencecategories A to E is set, as shown in FIG. 13. FIG. 12 shows that apreference category affixed with “Like” is set for each of the users.

In the following description, the user whose user ID is U03 in FIG. 12is referred to as a first user, and users whose user IDs set with apreference category B are U01 and U04 are referred to as second users.

In step S50 of FIG. 10, the user characteristic information acquisitionunit 11 refers to the user DB 211, and recognizes a preference categoryA and a preference category C which are preference categories of thefirst user. Subsequently, in step S51, the current situation recognitionunit 25 recognizes the user-specific situation and the general situationof the first user as the current situation, as described above.Subsequently, in step S52, the clustering unit 24 refers to the user DB211, and makes the four users (including the first user) set with thepreference category A as shown in FIG. 12 belong to the first class.

Subsequently, in step S53, the proposal activity information acquisitionunit 17 recognizes the preference category of another user (second user)of the first class to which the first user belongs. In step S54, theproposal activity information acquisition unit 17 performs collaborativefiltering from the preference category set for the second user, as shownin FIG. 12, and selects the preference category B, which is most favoredby the second user, as a preference category to be used.

Subsequently, in step S55, by accessing the activity DB 201, theactivity suitable for the preference category B is extracted as acandidate of the proposal activity for the first user. Here, as shown inC of FIG. 13, it is assumed that four activities B1 to B4 are extracted.Each of the prior probabilities of the activities B1 to B4 is set to0.25.

Subsequently, in step S56, as shown in W of FIG. 13, the weightingsetting unit 26 sets weighting for the activities B1 to B4 according tothe difference of the weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy, etc.) that is thegeneral situation recognized by the current situation recognition unit25. Subsequently, in step S57, the proposal activity informationacquisition unit 17 multiplies the prior probabilities of the activitiesB1 to B4 by the conditional probabilities according to the currentweather to calculate reference values of the activities B1 to B4,extracts an activity having the maximum reference value as a proposalactivity, and proceeds the process to step S58 in FIG. 11.

Processes of steps S58 to S61 and step S70 in FIG. 11 are the same asthe processes of steps S15 to S18 and step S21 in FIG. 9 describedabove, the activity proposal screen is displayed on the touch panel 51of the user terminal 50, and the proposal activity is registered in thewish list of the user DB 211 according to the evaluation by the firstuser.

6. Other Embodiments

In the above-described embodiment, the user mood estimation unit 14estimates the high degree of positiveness as the mood of the user, butmay estimate the mood other than the positiveness. For example, theuser's mood for movement may be estimated. In this case, the user moodestimation unit 14 estimates that the user wants to go far when thedisplacement of the user terminal 50 recognized by the input operationmode recognition unit 13 is large, and estimates that the user does notwant to go far when the displacement of the user terminal 50 is small.Then, the proposal activity information acquisition unit 17 proposes theactivity in an area where the distance from the current position of theuser is long when estimating the mood that the user wants to go far, andproposes the activity in an area close to the current position of theuser when estimating the mood that the user does not want to go far.

In the above-described embodiment, the input operation mode recognitionunit 13 uses the displacement operation mode of the user terminal 50detected by the motion sensor 52 or the operation mode of the touchpanel 51 of the user terminal 50, as the input operation mode of theuser, but may use only one of the operation modes.

In the above-described embodiment, as a mode of input operation to theinput device by the user, the displacement mode of the user terminal 50or the swipe operation of the user icon is recognized. However, as inthe evaluation slider 140 in FIG. 4, a mode may be recognized as theinput operation in which a plurality of sub-areas 141 to 145 havingdifferent colors or shades are displaced on the touch panel 51 and theuser U touches any one of the sub-areas. In this case, the user moodestimation unit 14 estimates that the positiveness is high when the userU touches a bright color sub-area, and estimates that the positivenessis low when the user U touches a dark color sub-area.

In the above-described embodiment, the proposal activity informationacquisition unit 17 extracts the proposal activity using the orientationin which the user terminal 50 is directed, but may extract theinformation activity without using the orientation information.

In the above-described embodiment, the recommendation system of thepresent disclosure is configured by the recommendation system 1 which isa computer system, but a part or all of the components of therecommendation system may be provided in the user terminal 50.

In the above-described embodiment, the weighting setting unit 26performs the weighting on the candidate of the proposal activityaccording to the weather, as shown in FIG. 13. The weighting settingunit 26 may also appropriately perform the weighting on other currentsituations. For example, when it is assumed from the user's schedulethat the time the user can spend on the activity is limited, theweighting of the candidate of the proposal activity may be set to belarger as the required time becomes shorter. In addition, the weightingmay be set in a superimposed manner for a combination of the pluralityof current situations (weather and distance).

In the above-described embodiment, the weighting setting unit 26 mayevaluate the weighting setting based on the proposal activity extractedin steps S56 to S57 in FIG. 10, the current situation and the weightingused at the time of extraction, and the evaluation (selection situation)of the first user for the proposal activity, and may set, based on theevaluation result, the weighting in subsequent extraction of the firstproposal activity by the proposal activity information acquisition unit17.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing the functional configuration of therecommendation system 1 according to the main processing contents inorder to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, and theconfiguration of the recommendation system 1 may be divided in anothermanner. Further, the processing of each of the components may beexecuted by one hardware unit, or may be executed by a plurality ofhardware units. Further, the processing of each of the components shownin FIG. 7 and FIGS. 9 to 11 may be executed by one program, or may beexecuted by a plurality of programs.

The processing executed by the user characteristic informationacquisition unit 11 corresponds to a user characteristic informationacquisition step in a recommendation method of the present disclosure.The processing executed by the user characteristic recognition unit 12corresponds to a user characteristic recognition step in therecommendation method of the present disclosure. The processing executedby the proposal activity information acquisition unit 17 corresponds toa proposal activity information acquisition step in the recommendationmethod of the present disclosure. The processing executed by the rankassignment unit 20 corresponds to a rank assignment step in therecommendation method of the present disclosure. The display controlprocessing executed by the output control unit 18 corresponds to adisplay control step in the recommendation method of the presentdisclosure.

In addition, the activity icons 111 to 117 shown in FIG. 2 correspond tofirst proposal activity icons of the present disclosure. The proposalactivity image display portion 131 shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to anactivity information display area of the present disclosure. The pointer135 and the proposal activity icon 132 shown in FIG. 4 correspond tosecond proposal activity icons of the present disclosure. The area 160on an upper side of the touch panel 51 shown in FIG. 5 corresponds to anexecution area of the present disclosure. In FIG. 5, the activity iconsof the activities divided in the Do correspond to execution activityicons of the present disclosure. The area 170 on a lower side of thetouch panel 51 in FIG. 5 corresponds to an area under consideration ofthe present disclosure, and the activity icons of the activities dividedin the Wish correspond to activity icons under consideration of thepresent disclosure.

7. Configuration Supported by Above-Described Embodiment

The above-described embodiment indicates specific examples of thefollowing configurations.

(Configuration 1) A recommendation system including: a usercharacteristic information acquisition unit configured to acquirecharacteristic information of a user; a user characteristic recognitionunit configured to recognize a characteristic of the user, based on thecharacteristic information of the user acquired by the usercharacteristic information acquisition unit; a proposal activityinformation acquisition unit configured to access an activity databasein which activity information is stored, to extract a proposal activitysuitable for the characteristic of the user recognized by the usercharacteristic recognition unit, and to acquire information of theproposal activity; a rank assignment unit configured to assign a rankfor each of a plurality of different evaluation elements to the proposalactivity; and a display control unit configured to use a rank of aselection evaluation element selected from each of the plurality ofevaluation elements, thereby allowing a display device to display a rankdistance screen in which a user icon indicating the user and a firstproposal activity icon indicating the proposal activity are arrangedsuch that a distance between the user icon and the first proposalactivity icon becomes shorter as the rank of the selection evaluationelement assigned to the proposal activity becomes higher, the displaydevice being used by the user.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 1, the user canconfirm the rank distance screen, in which the distance between the iconindicating the proposal activity and the user icon is set, according tothe ranks of different evaluation elements. Thus, the user can activelyutilize the recommendation system and select an activity that matcheshis/her wishes from different viewpoints.

(Configuration 2) The recommendation system according to Configuration1, further including: an evaluation element selection reception unitconfigured to receive a selection of the evaluation element by the user,wherein the display control unit allows the display device to displaythe rank distance screen using the evaluation element whose selection isreceived by the evaluation element selection reception unit as theselection evaluation element.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 2, the user canselect the evaluation element desired by himself/herself and display therank distance screen corresponding to the selected evaluation element onthe display device.

(Configuration 3) The recommendation system according to Configuration2, further including: a displacement recognition unit configured torecognize a displacement of an input device that is gripped and used bythe user, wherein the evaluation element selection reception unitreceives, based on the displacement of the input device recognized bythe displacement recognition unit, the selection of the evaluationelement.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 3, the user candisplay the rank distance screen with different evaluation elements onthe display device by a simple operation of displacing the gripped inputdevice.

(Configuration 4) The recommendation system according to any one ofConfiguration 1 to 3, wherein the evaluation element includes at leastone of a distance from a current position of the user to a place wherean activity can be experienced, an estimated time required to move fromthe current position of the user to the place where the activity can beexperienced, a time required for the activity, a skill required for theactivity, and a tool required for the activity.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 4, the user canconfirm the rank of the evaluation element assigned to the proposalactivity and including at least one of the distance from the currentposition of the user to the place where the activity can be experienced,the estimated time required to move from the current position of theuser to the place where the activity can be experienced, the timerequired for the activity, the skill required for the activity, and thetool required for the activity, and can select the proposal activity tobe experienced.

(Configuration 5) The recommendation system according to any one ofConfigurations 1 to 4, wherein the display device includes a touchpanel, the display control unit allows the touch panel to display anactivity proposal screen that display an activity information displayarea in which the information of the proposal activity is displayed andan evaluation input area to which an evaluation of the user for theproposal activity is input in a touching manner, and the recommendationsystem includes a user evaluation reception unit configured to recognizea rank of the evaluation of the user for the proposal activity which isinput to the evaluation input area in the touching manner.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 5, the user canprovide evaluation information of the activity selected byhimself/herself.

(Configuration 6) The recommendation system according to Configuration5, wherein the display control unit allows the touch panel to displaythe activity proposal screen that displays the evaluation input areaincluding a plurality of sub-areas having different colors or shades anda second proposal activity icon corresponding to the proposal activity,and the user evaluation reception unit recognizes the rank of theevaluation of the user for the proposal activity according to thesub-area to which the second proposal activity icon is moved when anoperation of moving the second activity icon to the evaluation inputarea is performed on the touch panel on which the activity proposalscreen being displayed.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 6, the user caninput the evaluation of the proposal activity by a simple and intuitiveoperation of moving the second activity icon corresponding to theproposal activity to any sub-area.

(Configuration 7) The recommendation system according to Configuration 5or 6, further including: an activity demand estimation unit configuredto estimate a demand for the proposal activity, based on the rank of theevaluation of the user for the proposal activity recognized by the userevaluation reception unit or the number of activities divided in the Do.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 7, it ispossible to estimate the demand for the proposal activity by utilizingthe evaluation situation of the proposal activity by the user.

(Configuration 8) The recommendation system according to any one ofConfigurations 1 to 7, wherein the display control unit allows thedisplay device to display an activity list screen on which a list of aplurality of third proposal activity icons individually associated withthe plurality of proposal activities are displayed with respect to theplurality of proposal activities, which are extracted by the proposalactivity information acquisition unit and are selected by the user, inan arrangement mode according to a predetermined condition.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 8, the user canconsider the activity to be experienced, based on the arrangement of thethird proposal activity icon displayed in the activity list.

(Configuration 9) The recommendation system according to Configuration8, wherein a display mode of each of the third proposal activity iconsdiffers depending on a genre or characteristic of each of the associatedproposal activities.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 9, the user caneasily recognize the difference between the plurality of proposalactivities by the display mode of the third specific activity, and canselect the activity to be experienced.

(Configuration 10) The recommendation system according to Configuration8 or 9, further including: a displacement recognition unit configured torecognize a displacement of an input device that is gripped and used bythe user, wherein the display control unit changes the arrangement ofthe plurality of third proposal activity icons on the activity listscreen, based on the displacement of the input device recognized by thedisplacement recognition unit.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 10, the user canchange the display position of the plurality of third specificactivities on the activity list screen by a simple operation ofdisplacing the gripped input device.

(Configuration 11) The recommendation system according to any one ofConfigurations 8 to 10, wherein the display control unit is configuredto: divide the plurality of third proposal activity icons into anexecution activity icon corresponding to the proposal activity for whichexecution intention of the user is set and an activity icon underconsideration for which execution intention of the user is not set; andallow the display device to display the activity list screen in whichthe execution activity icon is arranged in an execution area and theactivity icon under consideration is arranged in an area underconsideration that does not overlap with the execution area.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 11, the user canconfirm the execution activity icon displayed in the execution area andthe activity icon under consideration displayed in the area underconsideration in comparison with each other, thereby intuitivelyrecognizing the consideration situation of the activity.

(Configuration 12) The recommendation system according to Configuration11, wherein the execution area is arranged on an upper side of the areaunder consideration in the activity list screen.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 12, the user caneasily distinguish between the activity that has been decided to beexecuted and the activity that is under consideration, due to thedifference in arrangement in the up-down direction.

(Configuration 13) The recommendation system according to Configuration11 or 12, further including: an activity planning unit configured tocreate a plan for experiencing the proposal activity for which theexecution intention of the user is set, wherein the display control unitallows the display device to display a planning screen for displayingthe plan created by the activity planning unit.

According to the recommendation system of Configuration 13, the user caneasily consider the plan for experiencing the activity, for which theexecution intention is set, by confirming the planning screen.

(Configuration 14) A recommendation method executed by a computer,including: a user characteristic information acquisition step ofacquiring characteristic information of a user; a user characteristicrecognition step of recognizing a characteristic of the user, based onthe characteristic information of the user acquired in the usercharacteristic information acquisition step; a proposal activityinformation acquisition step of accessing an activity database in whichactivity information is stored, extracting a proposal activity suitablefor the characteristic of the user recognized in the user characteristicrecognition step, and acquiring information of the proposal activity; arank assignment step of assigning a rank for each of a plurality ofdifferent evaluation elements to the proposal activity; and a displaycontrol step of using a rank of a selection evaluation element selectedfrom each of the plurality of evaluation elements, thereby allowing adisplay device to display a rank distance screen in which a user iconindicating the user and a first proposal activity icon indicating theproposal activity are arranged such that a distance between the usericon and the first proposal activity icon becomes shorter as the rank ofthe selection evaluation element assigned to the proposal activitybecomes higher, the display device being used by the user.

When the recommendation method of Configuration 14 is executed by thecomputer, the same operational effect as the recommendation system ofConfiguration 1 can be obtained.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   -   1 recommendation system    -   10 CPU    -   11 user characteristic information acquisition unit    -   12 user characteristic recognition unit    -   13 input operation mode recognition unit    -   14 user mood estimation unit    -   15 estimation accuracy calculation unit    -   16 orientation recognition unit    -   17 proposal activity information acquisition unit    -   18 output control unit    -   19 user evaluation reception unit    -   20 rank assignment unit    -   21 evaluation element selection reception unit    -   22 acquisition time situation information storage unit    -   23 individual preference category setting unit    -   24 clustering unit    -   25 current situation recognition unit    -   26 weighting setting unit    -   27 activity planning unit    -   28 activity demand estimation unit    -   30 memory    -   50 user terminal    -   51 touch panel    -   52 motion sensor    -   53 orientation sensor    -   100 rank distance screen    -   110 user icon    -   130 activity proposal screen    -   150 activity list screen    -   200 activity information server    -   201 activity DB    -   210 user information server    -   211 user DB    -   U user

What is claimed is:
 1. A recommendation system comprising: a usercharacteristic information acquisition unit configured to acquirecharacteristic information of a user; a user characteristic recognitionunit configured to recognize a characteristic of the user, based on thecharacteristic information of the user acquired by the usercharacteristic information acquisition unit; a proposal activityinformation acquisition unit configured to access an activity databasein which activity information is stored, to extract a proposal activitysuitable for the characteristic of the user recognized by the usercharacteristic recognition unit, and to acquire information of theproposal activity; a rank assignment unit configured to assign a rankfor each of a plurality of different evaluation elements to the proposalactivity; and a display control unit configured to use a rank of aselection evaluation element selected from each of the plurality ofevaluation elements, thereby allowing a display device to display a rankdistance screen in which a user icon indicating the user and a firstproposal activity icon indicating the proposal activity are arrangedsuch that a distance between the user icon and the first proposalactivity icon becomes shorter as the rank of the selection evaluationelement assigned to the proposal activity becomes higher, the displaydevice being used by the user.
 2. The recommendation system according toclaim 1, further comprising: an evaluation element selection receptionunit configured to receive a selection of the evaluation element by theuser, wherein the display control unit allows the display device todisplay the rank distance screen using the evaluation element whoseselection is received by the evaluation element selection reception unitas the selection evaluation element.
 3. The recommendation systemaccording to claim 2, further comprising: a displacement recognitionunit configured to recognize a displacement of an input device that isgripped and used by the user, wherein the evaluation element selectionreception unit receives, based on the displacement of the input devicerecognized by the displacement recognition unit, the selection of theevaluation element.
 4. The recommendation system according to claim 1,wherein the evaluation element includes at least one of a distance froma current position of the user to a place where an activity can beexperienced, an estimated time required to move from the currentposition of the user to the place where the activity can be experienced,a time required for the activity, a skill required for the activity, anda tool required for the activity.
 5. The recommendation system accordingto claim 1, wherein the display device includes a touch panel, thedisplay control unit allows the touch panel to display an activityproposal screen that display an activity information display area inwhich the information of the proposal activity is displayed and anevaluation input area to which an evaluation of the user for theproposal activity is input in a touching manner, and the recommendationsystem includes a user evaluation reception unit configured to recognizea rank of the evaluation of the user for the proposal activity which isinput to the evaluation input area in the touching manner.
 6. Therecommendation system according to claim 5, wherein the display controlunit allows the touch panel to display the activity proposal screen thatdisplays the evaluation input area including a plurality of sub-areashaving different colors or shades and a second proposal activity iconcorresponding to the proposal activity, and the user evaluationreception unit recognizes the rank of the evaluation of the user for theproposal activity according to the sub-area to which the second proposalactivity is moved when an operation of moving the second activity iconto the evaluation input area is performed on the touch panel on whichthe activity proposal screen being displayed.
 7. The recommendationsystem according to claim 5, further comprising: an activity demandestimation unit configured to estimate a demand for the proposalactivity, based on the rank of the evaluation of the user for theproposal activity recognized by the user evaluation reception unit. 8.The recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein the displaycontrol unit allows the display device to display an activity listscreen on which a list of a plurality of third proposal activity iconsindividually associated with the plurality of proposal activities aredisplayed with respect to the plurality of proposal activities, whichare extracted by the proposal activity information acquisition unit andare selected by the user, in an arrangement mode according to apredetermined condition.
 9. The recommendation system according to claim8, wherein a display mode of each of the third proposal activity iconsdiffers depending on a genre or characteristic of each of the associatedproposal activities.
 10. The recommendation system according to claim 8,further comprising: a displacement recognition unit configured torecognize a displacement of an input device that is gripped and used bythe user, wherein the display control unit changes the arrangement ofthe plurality of third proposal activity icons on the activity listscreen, based on the displacement of the input device recognized by thedisplacement recognition unit.
 11. The recommendation system accordingto claim 8, wherein the display control unit is configured to: dividethe plurality of third proposal activity icons into an executionactivity icon corresponding to the proposal activity for which executionintention of the user is set and an activity icon under considerationfor which execution intention of the user is not set; and allow thedisplay device to display the activity list screen in which theexecution activity icon is arranged in an execution area and theactivity icon under consideration is arranged in an area underconsideration that does not overlap with the execution area.
 12. Therecommendation system according to claim 11, wherein the execution areais arranged on an upper side of the area under consideration in theactivity list screen.
 13. The recommendation system according to claim11, further comprising: an activity planning unit configured to create aplan for experiencing the proposal activity for which the executionintention of the user is set, wherein the display control unit allowsthe display device to display a planning screen for displaying the plancreated by the activity planning unit.
 14. A recommendation methodexecuted by a computer, comprising: a user characteristic informationacquisition step of acquiring characteristic information of a user; auser characteristic recognition step of recognizing a characteristic ofthe user, based on the characteristic information of the user acquiredin the user characteristic information acquisition step; a proposalactivity information acquisition step of accessing an activity databasein which activity information is stored, extracting a proposal activitysuitable for the characteristic of the user recognized in the usercharacteristic recognition step, and acquiring information of theproposal activity; a rank assignment step of assigning a rank for eachof a plurality of different evaluation elements to the proposalactivity; and a display control step of using a rank of a selectionevaluation element selected from each of the plurality of evaluationelements, thereby allowing a display device to display a rank distancescreen in which a user icon indicating the user and a first proposalactivity icon indicating the proposal activity are arranged such that adistance between the user icon and the first proposal activity iconbecomes shorter as the rank of the selection evaluation element assignedto the proposal activity becomes higher, the display device being usedby the user.